Introduction

In the third episode of Literary Canon Ball we discuss The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas.

Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter lives between two worlds: her wealthy and very white high school in the suburbs and the poor and mostly black city neighbourhood where she was born and raised. It’s a fraught situation, an often tense balancing act that is shattered when Starr is the only witness to the fatal shooting of her unarmed friend, Khalil, by a police officer.

The Hate U Give is Angie Thomas’ debut novel. Published earlier this year after a heated auction involving thirteen publishers, it has quickly garnered acclaim. Inspired in part by the shootings of Trayvon Martin, Mike Brown and Tamir Rice and the Black Lives Matter movement, many have already labelled it a classic and Thomas a star.